Page 10 - ELG1601 Nov Issue 441

Page iv ELyoung learners 2016

he Education Endowment A compass to navigate education
Foundation (EEF) is an
Tindependent grant-making
charity founded by the Sutton
Trust whose mission is to close
the attainment gap for students Claudia Civinini presents an overview of a substantial body of research which
from disadvantaged backgrounds.
It aims to do so by collabo- analyses the evidence behind many educational practices and interventions
rating with research institutions
to test educational practices
and interventions, and provide in the Early Years and Teaching which to base their own profes- show you which practices we Teaching and learning toolkit 5–16. What works
evidence about which of these and Learning (5–16-year-old) sional judgements’. thought would work wonders well, with sound evidence and low cost?
work best – and at what cost. Toolkits ‘so that schools have The Toolkits list practices and but actually don’t, which prac-
They then collect their results the best possible evidence on interventions such as ‘Teaching tices don’t work and which ones strategy cost evidence impact
Assistants’ or ‘Block Schedul- can be potentially damaging. Feedback 1/5 3/5 8
Early years: what works well? ing’ (longer lessons but fewer of Overall, the evidence points to Meta Cognition and 1/5 4/5 8
them), and for each of these they something that we all know, but Self-Regulation
strategy cost evidence impact indicate the cost, strength of the that curiously doesn’t get the
supporting evidence and aver- same attention as the latest tech- Homework (secondary) 1/5 3/5 5
Self-regulation strategies 1/5 2/5 7 age impact measured in terms of nological gadget: teachers and Peer Tutoring 1/5 4/5 5
Communication and 1/5 4/5 6 months of learning they can add their expertise are the greatest Reading comprehen- 1/5 4/5 5
language approaches – or subtract – to the student’s asset in a school. sion strategies
education, from +8 to -4, taking In our next issue we aim to
Earlier starting age 5/5 2/5 6
average pupil progress over a provide readers with an overview Collaborative learning 1/5 4/5 5
Parental engagement 3/5 3/5 5 year as a benchmark. of teaching tips connected to the Phonics 1/5 5/5 4
Early literacy 1/5 4/5 4 In our bid to dedicate more most successful practices. n
approaches space to evidence-based teach-
ing, we believe the tools offered See the Early Year Toolkit here: Feedback: according to evidence, feedback is crucial
by EEF can make a good https://educationendowmentfoun- for good learning. However, it must be done correctly,
Self-regulation strategies: students’ ability to manage compass for teachers and policy- dation.org.uk/resources/ otherwise it could potentially be negative: it needs to be
their own behaviour or learning. This is linked with suc- makers alike. On this page we early-years-toolkit and the accurate, specific and clear, and provide precise guidance
cessful learning, including pre-reading skills, mathematics offer an overview of what works Teaching and Learning Toolkit on how to improve.
and problem solving. It is a promising area although more really well with very young here: https://educationendow-
research into its impact is needed. learners and students aged 5–16, mentfoundation.org.uk/resources/
and for the latter group we also teaching-learning-toolkit/ Meta Cognition and Self-Regulation: teaching students
specific strategies to set goals, and monitor and evalu-
Communication and language approaches: these empha- ate their academic development. Strategies are usually
sise the importance of spoken language and verbal interaction. more effective when taught in collaborative groups but
Studies consistently show positive benefits for young children’s the full extent of their impact can be difficult to achieve,
learning, including their spoken language skills, their expres- as it requires students to take responsibility of their own
sive vocabulary and their early reading skills. learning.

Earlier starting age: nursery or pre-school from the age of Homework: yes, homework. But only for secondary school
three. Although the impact seems to be high, this needs to students. Benefits are higher when homework is used as
be further investigated. a short and focused intervention, more modest, but still
significant, when routinely set. At primary level, homework
has a lower efficacy rate.
Parental engagement: a set of practices that ranges from
encouraging parents to read with their children and support-
ing them with homework to providing counselling for families. Peer Tutoring: effective for both tutor and tutee, peer
This is closely linked to the child’s academic success. tutoring works best when structured to ensure high quality
of interaction. It should be used as a supplement and rein-
forcement of teaching, not as a substitute or as a way to
Early literacy approaches: foster young children’s read- introduce new material.
ing and writing skills through activities such as storytelling
or group reading. An approach targeted at small groups
and sustained overtime seems to bear the best results. Reading comprehension strategies: these aim at improv-
Evidence is very sound. ing the learner’s understanding of a text. Some examples:
summarising, identifying key points, developing questioning
strategies. The most successful strategies select reading
activities in careful accordance with the learner’s abilities, in
Some surprises – approaches we thought would order to provide an ‘effective but not overwhelming challenge’.
work wonders, and in fact they don’t, sometimes
at a very high cost
strategy cost evidence impact Collaborative learning: small groups working together on a
Reducing class size 5/5 3/5 3 task that has been clearly assigned. Clearly is the key word –
structured approaches, well-designed tasks and meaningful
Teaching assistants 4/5 2/5 1 interaction between group members are necessary.
Individualised instruction 1/5 3/5 2

developing students’ phonemic awareness – helping them
Class size: size matters, at least for schools’ marketing Courtesy www.audio-luci-store.it Phonics: an approach that teaches reading and writing by
departments. The impact this has on actual learning is not recognise the relationship between sounds and written pat-
so straightforward. There is no improvement until the class terns, or graphemes. It is mostly effective on younger learners
is reduced to less than 15–20 students. Class size reduc- (4–10) and teachers’ expertise in the technique is crucial.
tion may work better with younger learners. Another study EFFECTIVE Peer tutoring is good for both tutor and student, but
(Rivkin Hanushek and Kain, 2005) proved that the effect of works best when used as a reinforcement, not a substitution
having a very effective teacher as opposed to an average Teaching and learning toolkit 5–16. Damaging
teacher is the same as reducing class size by 10–13 stu- Teaching and learning toolkit 5–16. Some things practices
dents (see September 2015 Gazette).
that don’t work
strategy cost evidence impact
strategy cost evidence impact
Teaching assistants: although more research is needed, Repeating a year 5/5 4/5 -4
some studies say that TAs can have a positive impact on Block scheduling 1/5 2/5 0 Setting or streaming 1/5 3/5 -1
learning. The key seems to lie in the collaboration between Performance pay 2/5 1/5 0
the teacher and the assistants, who best support learn-
ing by working with individual students or small groups, Repeating a year: evidence shows that repeating a year
whereas settings where assistants provide general support Block scheduling: an approach to timetabling whereby hinders the student’s chances of academic success. Stu-
do not work as well. In some cases it has been observed pupils have fewer but longer classes per day. It needs fur- dents who repeat a year are unlikely to catch up with peers
that low-attaining pupils perform worse in classrooms where ther investigation but evidence so far seems to show that and are more likely to drop out of school. The Toolkit sug-
assistants are present. this approach is unlikely to raise attainment by itself. gest trying intensive tuition or one to one support instead,
which are also considerably cheaper.
Individualised instruction: the practice of providing differ- Performance pay (for teachers): the Teaching Toolkit
ent tasks for each learner and support at individual level. points out that evidence does not support this approach, Setting or streaming: based on the assumption that
Overall evidence shows this approach does not work as that money would be better spent investing in professional teaching will be more effective with a narrower range of
intended, with some studies even reporting a negative development for teachers, and that performance pay ‘may attainment in class, setting or streaming works best with
impact. This may be because with individualised learning lead to a narrower focus on test performance and restrict talented or gifted students, but leaves low attaining peers
in a classroom setting, learners receive less direct teaching. other aspects of learning’. Hands up if this shocked you – falling behind one to two months a year on average. It also
Small groups could be more effective instead. however, it still needs to be further investigated. has a negative effect on those students’ confidence.

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